My husband and I are considering a couple different tours for next summer - one of which is Insight's Treasures of Spain, Portugal and Morocco. As a vegan, my main concern is that I don't have to go hungry for most of the trip.

While I have experience with packing minimal amounts of food, shopping in local markets, learning how to express my basic restrictions in the local language and other strategies to look after myself, I'm hoping there are other vegans (or vegetarians) who can tell me about their experiences with Insight.

Thank you.

Hi Kanca and welcome to the Bulletin Board. Glad to have you on board.
My wife and I went on this tour 31 March 2006.My wife is not a vegan but she has intolerances to lactose,yeast and gluten. We mentioned this at the time of booking to our travel agent. When we arrived in Madrid, our tour director (Andy Walker) had prepared in Spanish, a letter setting out her food requirements which he gave to her. We used this letter when we travelled to Northern Spain after the tour and when we dined by ourselves on the tour. We found it most helpful.
During the tour Andy was always attentive to my wife's diet and would see that her meals did not contain those products.
I am sure that Insight have had customers who are Vegans travel with them beforeand I would suggest that you ask your travel agent to contact Insight and seek their advice. They are a great company and will go out of their way to help.
As far as the tour itself goes,it was fantastic and one that you will remember for life. Jim

quote:

Originally posted by jimbo44:
When we arrived in Madrid, our tour director (Andy Walker) had prepared in Spanish, a letter setting out her food requirements which he gave to her. We used this letter when we travelled to Northern Spain after the tour and when we dined by ourselves on the tour. We found it most helpful.

That's wonderful. I'm preparing a letter like that for myself. We are almost committed to taking this tour. I sent a query directly to Insight and am waiting to hear back from them.

I received a response from Insight. Pretty much what I expected. They can't guarantee the availability of vegan meals, although the Tour Director would help.

However, as I requested, I would be able to bring an extra bag (depending on size) with my own food. So... now I have to start planning for packing light.

Hi Kanca,

I'm not a vegetarian but on the tours that I had been on the tour directors were very attentive to dietary requirements. They will usually ask you to inform them if you have any dietary preferences on the first day of the tour. While they say they can't guarantee they will always make an effort to get it right for you even if the restaurant makes a mistake.
Breakfasts are usually buffet style so you pick what you can eat from the limited selection. Lunches are on your own so you buy what you can eat. So usually it's the dinners that the tour directors have to worry about.

I don't know how much food you intend to bring with you and if you can bring food suitable for dinners as well. FYI, there will be convenience shops at each service stop or ask for the nearest supermarket near your hotels to buy whatever you need. If I were you I won't be carrying food with me. Also be aware of any food restriction/quarantine some countries may have.

Good luck.
VP

I just came back from Spain, and with the included meals it was very difficult not to go hungry as a vegetarian - and I eat eggs/cheese (although I prefer not to because of cholesterol issues). For lunches while traveling, I would definitely try to get something from a local store beforehand rather than take a chance that the rest stops have decent food. I ended up eating lots of boiled veggies (yum) and cheese for included meals. Vegetarian in Spain also often means you eat fish, eggs so I'd make sure you learn how to say that you don't in Spanish. You can find plenty of veg friendly food at restaurants and all, it was the tour meals that were really difficult. I'd pack some granola bars.

Hi Reen and welcome to the Bulletin Board. Thanks for passing on that information.
Hope you enjoyed Spain? It is certainly a fascinating country!! Jim

We fly off to Athens (then Egypt later) on Saturday and I have several food allergies, so I thought that I would share what I have done to prepare. I am allergic or intolerant to pork, shellfish, and bananas. I also work to avoid caffeine. In Microsoft Word, you can translate sentences or phrases into many different languages. I looked on the web for menu cards to get an idea of good, basic wording and adapted the sentences for my needs. I now have phrases in Arabic and Greek, with English in the middle. In case my waiter is illiterate, I also used a pig symbol, circled it and have a slanted slash across the circle (much like a no left turn sign). I made a similar symbol using clip art for banana, and another using clip art for a lobster and oysters. I could not find anything that would work for decaf, so I am carrying tea bags in case decaf coffee is not available (like on many flights). I bet that you could make your own symbols if there is not already a universal vegan symbol to go with words describing your dietary choices. Have a super trip and don't let this get in the way of fun! I did put in a jar of peanut butter and several high protein bars.